MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WPDE) — Through widespread inflation, some new reports show a Myrtle Beach vacation is more expensive than it was last year, and this summer, that could mean fewer visitors.

A forecast on the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce’s website shows rentals could see fewer visitors than last year through at least July 4, and in late June, it could even reach pandemic levels.

“It’s just a giant balancing act,” Jaret Hucks, the owner of Midtown Motel said, “and a little bit of experience goes a long way in getting us through this.”

He said that ‘giant balancing act’ can boil down to three main points, and one of them, is lowering his rates, because visitors are paying more for every other part of their lives.

Going into this year, gas prices are affecting travel, so we have to balance our rates and encourage business to come in.

The chamber’s website shows not every business is taking that route, though.

Through April, hotel and rental rates went up.

RENTALS

HOTELS

“You have to plan on tomorrow, but for tomorrow, you had to start planning last week,” Hucks said.

The second part of the ‘balancing act,’ he said, is keeping employee pay the same, to make sure they can afford inflated costs.

"That’s not a problem, they need it, but we’re having—it's more of a tightrope we have to walk with bringing our income from our rooms down, while keeping our employee wages the same.”

The third, is avoiding increases stemming from Supply Chain issues.

“Just for an example, a supplier came to me and she says, ‘listen, we have sheets coming in. You know how many you use on average per month, you might want to stock up for a couple of months, because next month you might not be able to get them.’” Hucks said.

“We’re going to shoot for the best summer we can!”

Myrtle Beach is known for the outdoors, with the most important part being, of course, the beach.

But what about the rest of the “Great Outdoors”? Aren’t there other things to do?

We asked readers to share with us their favorite places to go hiking, biking and just explore nature around the Grand Strand. Here are the places they shared.

Did we miss something? Email ckaracostas@thesunnews.com.

Bike and Run Park (The Hulk): Wish Myrtle Beach was closer to the mountains? This place brings brings the mountains to you. It features 7 miles of mountain biking and biking trails across 70 acres of space, and it serves as the first East Coast Greenway trailhead in South Carolina.

150 Frontage Road, B-2, Myrtle Beach

Brookgreen Gardens: What better place to explore nature than a giant botanical garden? There are plenty of trails, paved and unpaved, depending on how adventurous you want to be and how much you want to forget that your car is only a short walk away. Plus, you can see some cute baby goats.

1931 Brookgreen Garden Drive, Murrells Inlet

Hobcaw Barony: One reader called this place a hidden gem that “not even many locals know about.” It’s tucked along Georgetown’s coastline and is a nature preserve and plantation covering 16,000 acres. Want to check out some history during your explorations? Hobcaw also has cemeteries and centuries-old homes to visit.

22 Hobcaw Road, Georgetown

Huntington Beach State Park: You can camp, hike and bike here. This place has it all.

16148 Ocean Hwy., Murrells Inlet

Myrtle Beach State Park: Who wouldn’t want to go check out the first state park to open in South Carolina? Plus, it’s one of the few maritime forests in the state that people can visit anytime they want.

4401 S. Kings Hwy., Myrtle Beach

Vereen Gardens: Horry County says this place has “3 miles of nature trails and boardwalks that meander through its botanical gardens and along its waterfront.” Plus, looking for some history? “A small segment of the original Kings Highway, a colonial route between Boston and Charleston, still remains at the front of the property.”

2250 SC-179, Little River

Waccamaw Neck Bikeway: Tired of biking along Ocean Boulevard for exercise? Those loud Carolina Squat trucks getting you down as they drive past? Escape it all with this trail ... just don’t mind the highway that you periodically have to bike alongside. The trail is 16 miles long. Want a specific place to start? Try Morse Park Landing.

4939 Hwy. 17 Business, Murrells Inlet

Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center: This treasure is possibly the most hidden place on this list, but a visit is well worth it. It’s a 20,000-acre nature preserve that is almost entirely protected from human disturbance. Access is extremely limited, though, and reservations for tours or camping will need to be made weeks or months in advance.

1 Yawkey Way S., Georgetown

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WPDE) — Have you ever thought about what you would want to do if you knew you had limited time left?

With the help of his doctors and a group of complete strangers, one Ohio man’s dying wish brought him to Myrtle Beach to make some beautiful, lasting memories with his family.

A 27-year-old father to three, Hunter Knisley, was given just weeks to live after a lifetime battle with Becker muscular dystrophy and recently another painful side effect — heart failure.

However, he refused to let his illness rob him of one of his final wishes, the opportunity to see his bride, Emily, walk down the aisle.

"We got some pretty tough news about my health recently," Hunter Knisley said. "Now, we just wanted to spend as much time as possible together."

A Myrtle Beach wedding planner, Amanda McDowell, stepped in to help give the young couple a wedding they would never forget. "The response was great and I just love how they just wanted to make this just the most memorable few days that they could have," said McDowell.

Their wedding on the beach was made complete with matching outfits for their children, a white lace dress for Emily and a host of other elegant touches that made the evening magical.

"We both love the beach," exclaims Emily, the bride. "We came when we were kids and we wanted to bring our kids to the beach and play. We weren't sure we were going to get to but thanks to a bunch of people we were able to not only bring our kids but to also get married at the beach."

From Emily's processional to their first kiss as husband and wife, there wasn't a dry eye on the beach, including the groom who was in awe of his bride.

"No words, I cried a little bit," Hunter said. "She’s beautiful! She’s the love of my life."

That love seems to be almost destined from a very early age. They’ve always been close, referring to themselves as time twins.

"We were both born on March 30, 1995, same hospital," said Hunter.

Along with being born on the same day at the same hospital, their social security numbers are just one number off from each other.

"He was born right before me," Emily added.

Now, time is something they treasure more than ever.

"Not everybody gets to have the time that we do," Emily exclaimed. "And although it is heartbreaking, I can’t help but be thankful that we do. I have the time to make these memories and this time with the kids and we just get to spend as much time together as we can and cherish everything."

For the Knisleys, this trip, this gift of hope came at a time when they needed it most.

"It’s a light in the dark and we’ve had so much bad news, scary things in the last couple of weeks," Emily said. "And then, we just got this call and you know we were going to be able to come down here and not only that but got us the hotel and they did the ceremony for us. Everything that we never thought we’d be able to do, it means a lot, a lot."

Something else that is important for this couple to do, is share their story.

"She is my strength, she helps me through every day," said Hunter. "I don’t know what I would do without her and the kids."

The couple hopes to provide strength for others through their own invaluable perspective.

"He is so much more than he thinks he is," Emily exclaimed. "And, I wish he could see himself the way I see him and the way a lot of people see him. You’re very special and everybody loves you."

The Knisleys wanted to also thank the following for helping make their dream wedding and vacation possible:

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - It’s one of the most traveled roads heading into Myrtle Beach, and soon, U.S. 501 will expand to four lanes all the way into downtown Myrtle Beach.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation is working to purchase the right of way to get this project officially underway, which will help alleviate some of the confusion surrounding the intersection.

The $13.9 million project is part of Horry County’s RIDE III program. On the RIDE III dashboard, the project status is still on schedule.

In order to start construction, two buildings will need to be demolished in order to connect U.S. 501 to 7th Avenue North near Oak Street, this includes Ed’s Hobby Shop and the Hong Kong Supermarket.

“We pretty much have to take the road right through if we’re going to realign U.S. 501 so we will have to compensate them,” said Horry County Councilman Johnny Vaught.

Vaught said Highway 501 has been the gateway to Myrtle Beach for decades and the project is long overdue.

“I think this project can help clean up that area,” said Vaught.

Downtown Development Director Lauren Clever said the realignment will create a new route into an area of downtown Myrtle Beach some have never traveled before.

“U.S. 501 is a key corridor that takes you to the oceanfront and this project creates a whole new area for the Arts and Innovation District to expand upon and develop,” said Clever.

She said the city and SCDOT worked together on the project design which is focused on making this area more pedestrian-friendly.

“It will be cool to have different pathways connecting to greenways, different restaurants, jobs or the library,” said Clever.

While some will be impacted, Vaught believes the current plan is the best option that impacts the least amount of businesses and homeowners.

“It’s not as bad as it could’ve been if it was in a different location,” said Vaught.

WMBF News did reach out to the owners of Ed’s Hobby Shop who said they haven’t heard from SCDOT about the project plans.

SCDOT said they hope to have the right of way acquisition purchased by next spring and start construction in Summer 2023.

The project is expected to take about a year and a half to complete.

Copyright 2022 WMBF. All rights reserved.

Large quantities of starfish have been seen scattered along Hilton Head Island beaches recently. Although it may look alarming, this is actually a natural event that’s fairly common in the Lowcountry.

Users, both locals and tourists, took to Facebook shocked at their findings along the shores of Hilton Head Island beaches. One user reported finding up to 30 starfish on her morning beach walk and swiftly returned them to the ocean waters.

The numbers of starfish are on the smaller-scale of the mass quantities of starfish that have become stranded in previous years. In 2018, over 1,000 starfish washed ashore on Lowcountry beaches, with Hilton Head Island included in those sightings. Roughly 100,000 starfish washed ashore on Fripp Island beaches in 2014.

Typically, in the winter or spring months when the temperatures are cooler in the Lowcountry these starfish, also known as sea stars, are more prone to large-scale strandings from being washed ashore. The reason behind this is that starfish are ectothermic or cold-blooded. This causes them and other small, ectothermic marine animals to lose most of their mobility until they can reach warmer temperatures. Thus, they are at the mercy of the tides. Contrarily, if sea stars reach too warm of temperatures, they will remove their own arms to protect against overheating. They can also do this to evade predators.

Temperatures near Hilton Head have recently seen lows in the upper 50’s and low 60’s.

Another possible reason they could be stranded is due to a phenomenon called ‘starballing.’ In this case, starfish curl their arms into a ball, allowing them access to faster modes of transportation via strong winds, currents and tidal conditions. When this occurs, the sea stars can be seen rolling over the seafloor. Some even reach out an arm as if to test the currents.

If starfish are found washed ashore, one shouldn’t automatically assume they are dead.

While it’s sometimes hard to tell, in most cases, these starfish are still alive. Beachgoers who view them from a close distance might even see them slowly crawling along the shore or catch a glimpse of their tubular feet moving.

These tubular feet look almost like moving hairs underneath the arms of a starfish. These ‘feet,’ or small tubular projections, are what make sea stars echinoderms. Other echinoderms with tubular projections on their undersides include sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers.

Even if these feet aren’t seen to be distinguishably moving, beachgoers should still throw them back into the water. They may just be moving slower than can be seen with the naked eye, meaning the sea star is alive and should be rescued when possible.

On Hilton Head Island, it’s illegal to disturb or take home any living beach organism, including starfish and sand dollars. Doing so could result in a $500 fine.

Municipal Code Title 8 Chapter 1 — “Beaches” describes the illegality of causing any physical harm, harassment, or disturbance of any marine fauna on Hilton Head Island.

For a complete list of prohibited beach activities, visit https://www.hiltonheadislandsc.gov/beach/regulations.cfm.